


On That Day - A Different Perspective

by orphan_account



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Child Soldiers, Death, Destruction of Shiganshina, Especially For The Manga, Gen, Like Chapter 40 And Upwards, Mayhem, Mentions of Blood Violence, Spoilers, You Have Been Warned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-20
Updated: 2013-10-20
Packaged: 2017-12-29 23:19:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1011271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A plan. A mission. An attack. An invasion. To find something, and to capture it. To return home. This is the situation that brought them here, to that day five years ago.</p><p>On that day, five years ago, Wall Maria fell to the Colossal and Armored Titan. On that day, more than lives were lost.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On That Day - A Different Perspective

**Author's Note:**

> This work is not beta-ed. I also chose to spell Bertl's name as Bertholdt.

The wall was bigger than they had imagined. 

Or, more accurately, it seemed bigger than they had imagined. With all the information that had been gathered, the drawings that had been sketched out, and the scales that had been made, their image of the wall had been exact in their minds. To stand in front of it was a different story. 

The wall stretched into the sky, reaching incredible heights. It was truly a stunning symbol of survival, created by the human race, as if to shout to the heavens that they would not go down without a fight, and that they would struggle to the bitter end. 

And for a while, it had worked. For one hundred years, it was flawless, and impenetrable force of engineering that would not fall for anything.

Until Bertholdt Fubar and Reiner Braun shifted, and suddenly everything else shifted too. The wall now had a weakness in the form of two young boys.

Here they stood, three years later since their titan forms had been revealed, a strange trio of misfits from an even stranger village. Far away from humanity, but it’s only neighbour.

The plan was simple. Break the wall. Infiltrate. Find the “coordinate”. Return. Simple in theory. Really simple. It had been broken into the most simplistic of terms and directions so that they, at ages eleven and twelve, could understand it. Understand that their actions were for the good of their village, necessary for their survival, and that this needed to be done. No matter who was speaking to them, that message was thoroughly imprinted. 

“But what about the people inside the wall?” Bertholdt had asked one day.

The teacher, the strategist of this mission, had looked down and replied “What about them?”

That was the attitude of the adults, and it was supposed to be theirs as well. The humans inside the wall didn’t matter – they were different. It was the village that mattered.

Dawn was breaking, light slowly flooded the expansive plain around them. The wall, even from a distance, was imposing. 

“What’s wrong Bertl? You look like you’re about to cry.” Reiner asked, sliding his hand into Bertholdt’s, while on his other side Annie leaned into him.

“I’m not sure if I want to do this.” Bertholdt hated how his voiced wavered. He wanted to be like Reiner, who had the ability to smile through everything, or Annie who was never indecisive. 

“We have to. We’re the only ones who can.” Reiner replied.

“It will be simple. We’ve gone over the plan enough times.” Annie added, lightly punching him on the shoulder.

They knew the plan by heart. It could take years to fully come to blossom, but they were as prepared as they could be. The innumerable amount of times they had to shift back and forth, to build stamina in both human and titan form, so they could shift multiple times in short periods of time had been brutal. The amount of combat training – hand to hand, strategy, and survival – that had been drilled into them to become second nature had been relentless. They had all the tools to survive, and the skills to utilize them. 

Bertholdt didn’t want to use them. He was not ready – and he didn’t think he ever would be. But he had no choice, because he was the only one who could do this. 

So here they were. Annie, the combat expert, Reiner, the strategist, and Bertholdt the powerhouse. A trio of unfortunate children, born at the most desperate of times.

The village, although alive and well now, was slowly in decline. Their territory continuously encroached by the erratic and pure titans, who lived to be nothing more than an enemy. 

If they gained the coordinate, that would change everything. It would save them. It would save their families and their friends. 

And for that reason alone, Bertholdt would do it. He would let mankind fall to save his people. 

“It’s time,” Annie murmured, and they parted as she slipped on her ring.

Transformation at this point as second nature to all three. What usually took a decade for someone to master, it had taken them three. 

They approached quickly – Annie’s speed making the distanced between them and the wall shorter and shorter with each second passing. The wall continued to loom, its imposing presence yet to be broken. The sun was nearly half way above the horizon. They only had a small window of time to get close to the wall.

Early enough that the titans in the area would not give chase, their mobility hindered by the lack of sunlight, yet late enough so as not to be suspicious to any human who may be watching. 

At roughly one hundred metres away, Annie slowed, eventually coming to a complete halt, crouching near the ground. Reiner fluidly jumped down, rolling into a standing position. 

“Come on Bertl, we don’t have all day!” He shouted. 

Bertholdt nodded, knowing that their time was likely limited. He jumped – and landed with a crack and a cry of pain. 

“Shit, Bertl you okay?” Reiner asked, running toward his companion as steam enveloped them while the corpse of Annie’s titan faded away. 

“Y-yeah, I’ll be okay. But my leg is broken.” Bertholdt replied, tears welling up despite his best efforts to remain stoic. “It’ll take a few hours to heal.” The right leg of his pants had torn with the yellow-white colour of bone peeking through the rip as blood spilled onto the ground below. 

“Tch,” Annie spat, “We’ll have to wait. Thankfully, this doesn’t mean the mission’s fucked.” Her actions and words were those of a soldier, and not an eleven year old girl. 

About thirty meters away there was a small grove of pine trees near the river that led into Shiganshina. Hoisting the injured boy between them, Annie and Reiner quickly ran to the cover the trees provided, Bertholdt grimacing every time his leg was jolted. He made sure not to cry out loud.

To keep off the ground and out of sight as much as possible, they set up ‘camp’ in one of the pine trees. The height gave them a good vantage point and the tree branches good cover as they waited.

Steam curled around his leg, slowly healing it as minutes ticked by unremarkably. Much like everything about his titan form, his healing factor was slower than the others. Bertholdt thought it might be because so much energy went into his existence and every day functions alone that everything else took a back seat. It really didn’t bother him most times, but right now it was inconvenient.

Annie let out a small gasp from the branch beside him.

“What is it Annie?” Reiner asked from the branch below, looking upwards.

“The gate is opening.” That small statement pulled all of their attention towards the gate in the distance. 

Dust curled and bellowed around the door as the chains that hoisted it skywards creaked across the grassy plain, reaching the titan shifter’s ears. 

And out poured horse upon horse, each with a solider on their back, out into the titan dominated landscape. 

“Hmm,” Annie made a sound of interest. “Doubt they’ll be long. We should wait until they return.”

Bertholdt looked away. 

They waited quietly with the sound of nature surrounding them. The sound of water, running swiftly nearby, the rustling of trees and the call of birds was the only thing to fill the silence. Hours passed this way, none of them willing to talk. It seemed frivolous to talk at this point, and what little conversation that could be had would center on the plan. In fact, Bertholdt thought, most conversations that passed between the three of them had to with the plan. The plan had been the focus of the past three years for everyone. With training taking up the majority of their time, they had little free time to devote to outside interests. 

“Look!” Reiner shouted in a whisper, drawing Bertholdt out of his thoughts, “They’re returning.”

A flare was set off in the distance, then two more, marking the return of the soldiers. Red arched high across the sky, as the gates rumbled open, letting in a much smaller company than the one who had left earlier in the day.

Sudden pressure on his leg nearly had Bertholdt dropping from his branch in surprise. “What?” He hissed, heart thumping. 

Annie’s eyes widened slightly, a small smirk of pride from getting such a reaction from Bertholdt adorned her face. “How’s your leg?”

“Fine,” Bertholdt begrudgingly admitted. It had been for the past hour.

“Then it’s time to go.” 

All three climbed down, Bertholdt much more gracefully this time, and took off towards the wall, running the sixty or so meters between it and the trees. Their brown-green cloaks fluttered around them as they sprinted, hoping no one and nothing noticed them. 

It was all too soon that they reached the wall, and Bertholdt could place a hand on the rough, sand coloured stone. Looking up, the wall filled his entire view, becoming the sky in many ways.

They took their time, creeping along the wall, hugging it close and hoping to blend in if any eyes were watching, but in the end the journey was uneventful. No one stopped them, nothing noticed them. Bertholdt’s wishes were left unheard. 

Brown eyes stared at the horizon, as it grew slightly darker. The sun was going to set soon, and the sky glowed orange in recognition. 

“Bertholdt come on!” Reiner shouted at him – to be quiet would be pointless at this point. 

Annie was prepared – ring on – and so was Reiner. He would break the first wall. Reiner would hopefully be able to break whatever wall lay within. In the chaos, Annie would get Bertholdt to safety. Then, they would go wherever they could. Simple. 

Bertholdt breathed deeply, lungs filling with air beyond the walls for the last time in what could be a very long time.

Taking the small dagger from the sheath on his hips, he closed his eyes and let the air out as he pierced his left hand on the sharp blade. 

The next time he opened them he was looking down into the small town of Shiganshina, while everybody looked up at him. He felt Annie transform beside him, the rush of heat and steam from the transformation’s process warming his right ankle. With that in mind, he kicked back his left foot and smashed it against the gate, annihilating it away in a pile of brick, stone, and wood. Annie’s scream hit the air moments before, making any titan around them aware of their presence. Making them aware of the breach. Making them aware that there was flesh to be devoured. 

On that day, the wall broke just as planned. 

As Bertholdt abandoned his titan form, he was scooped up by Annie and placed on her shoulder. At this point, he was useless. Reiner was on the other side, and gave him a thumbs up. It made him feel sick.

They were in, as were the titans. The titans rushed in, ignoring Annie and Reiner and Bertholdt for the humans within the walls. Heavy footsteps filled the air, their thunderous thudding mixing in with the screams of terror and pain. 

Annie crouched, weaving in between streets and houses alike, trying to stay unnoticed. It wasn’t hard, as most of the human population was hysterical with fear at this point. No one would notice her, no one would care, and most importantly, no one would remember her even if they survived. Their memories would be filled with the titan who broke the wall or the titan who ate their loved ones. 

Bertholdt clutched the side of Annie’s throat tightly. They were headed to the second wall. Reiner had already left. Blood and bodies littered the ground, most from the brutal shower of stone created from inward explosion of the wall due to the force of Bertholdt’s kick. He choked back a sob, hand raised to his mouth as the sickening feeling only grew. Annie’s eye swiveled towards the – at the moment – smaller boy. Her eyes looked lost too, any glimmer in them previously was now replaced. Her eyes, as piercing as ever, looked dead to him.

They heard Reiner’s actions more than they saw. Cannon fire, screams of terror, and then finally… the crash.

Bertholdt let out a breath he had not realized he had been holding as Annie ran to the impact site, hoping to beat the majority of the other titans so they could get a head start. The feeling of human flesh being trampled beneath her feet was new, but she had steeled herself to ignore it. She had to ignore it. Bertholdt hated the sounds that surrounded him. The screaming, the crying, the howling, the breaking, the crunching, the squishing – all of it was being seared into his brain and he hated it. He tried to tune it out. 

Annie let out a huff of surprise as they arrived. The hole Reiner had made was impressive, larger than she thought it would be. She supposed that the gate here was weaker, as was the surrounding brickwork, or maybe Reiner was just that strong. . All the titan classes should be able to get through this one without issue. 

Reiner stood in front of her, his breath hot jets of steam. He nodded at her, as if to say he was okay.

Then they ran. They ran far, far away. Far away from the collapsed wall, far away from the bloodshed they had participated in. Far away from the further destruction and consumption of the human race. They ran far from the orphans, the widows, and the homeless they instantly created with such a simple plan. 

Soon, too soon it seemed, back when they looked human, they entered a village. A village that welcomed them and their warning about what had happened to Wall Maria. A village that didn’t question them, because the eyes of these children told them all that they needed to know, without realizing it that it was these very children that had robbed them of their safety and homes. 

With that, they completed the first part of their mission successfully. It had gone according to plan. They were in and accepted. Now, they had to execute part two of the mission, finding the coordinate. The trio was told they would feel it when it was in their presence. That they would know what the coordinate was. Hopefully, it was as easy as that. 

They slipped easily into the guise of humanity, but something always stuck with them. Bertholdt could feel it, feel it in the way his breath stopped short whenever the fall of Wall Maria was mentioned. He could hear it in the way Reiner laughed a little too easily sometimes. He could see it when Annie lost interest in everything. It was hard, he was always nervous, always worrying that they would be found out or caught. They never were though, even though he wished sometimes they would be. He wished that someone would make them pay for what they did. Make them atone. Seek revenge. No one ever did, though. In fact, most people seemed to like them. 

Bertholdt never really liked himself since then.

On that day, three children were lost to the titans, devoured by their actions for the selfishness and survival of their people.


End file.
